Things change constantly. One year you have to wear skinny jeans while the next year you cannot go out without a loose fit model. While time passes by, trends come and go eventually influenced by external circumstances. So it goes for food habits.
Long before people were able to enjoy food in a way we do now, people mainly lived to collect food and then ate the food to survive. Everyday again men went out in the fields to hunt animals while the woman took care of the babies and the ‘houses’. A life in which everything is centered on food seems like a dream come true for many people in modern life but those days were hard. Hunting was (and is) dangerous and if no animal was killed, there was no food. And no food means less energy for next days’ hunting trip.
After centuries some lazy (or you could call them clever) hunters started to create areas which we would now call farms. They looked for fertile areas where crops could grow and animals where plenty. Either because they were attracted to come to a certain spot to gather food or water or because they were caught and put in an enclosed area by a farmer. Cities came grew and gathering food did get less important in peoples life. As long as you had money or something else to exchange you would be able to buy food.
This enables people to concentrate on other things like philosophy, politics, arts and sciences. The population started to grow and got wiser. This finally resulted in the industrial revolution which also caused a revolution for the food discipline; trains enabled food to travel over longer distances, food could be prepared in different ways, and thanks to electricity dinner could also be eaten after sunset.
Another result of this revolution is the fact that machines took over the work of human hands. This meant people needed to work less and had time left to spend with family or friends. What’s better to enjoy a meal then? Well, apparently lots’ more. Because relatively soon after the Industrial Revolution machines where invented which relieved housewives from the hard kitchen work they had to do each day. Microwaves, fridges, stoves and electric ovens took over her job. And supermarkets and low food prices encouraged them to buy ready-to-eat meals which meant more and more time could be spend on other things than the preparation of food. Eating became a necessity instead of a pleasure.
Only some of us really take time to sit down and eat. Eat and enjoy. In bad economic it would be done in your house where you sit down at your own dining table tasting all the different flavors of the dish in front of you. Or when things go better you go out and meet others and discuss your week with friends and family while being served a good three or four course diner. It actually doesn’t matter how as long as you realize that food is still indispensible if one wants to survive. So you better enjoy it!
See this TED talk on 'What's wrong with what we eat' by Mark Bittman (NY Times).
